This invention relates to a presentation apparatus for two-dimensional picture information and, more particularly, to an apparatus for presenting information which is distributed and preserved into plural layers located on the same area with overlapping manner.
At present, many kinds of information can be displayed on a display screen of the computer. It is expected that this tendency is further spurred in future by popularization of the internet. In recent years, with improvement of resolution of display, it becomes possible to present considerably fine information. In the car navigation system, etc., a device for presenting a detailed map on a two-dimensional display screen is assembled.
Moreover, by popularization of the so-called DTP (Desk Top Publishing) technology, it has been popularized to carry out editing work by using computer in the field of printing. In the DTP, layout work for characters or photographs to be printed is carried out on the display screen of the computer, and all sorts of information necessary for printing are displayed on the display screen. Further, in recent years, a document format PDF (Portable Document Format) that Adobe Systems Co. Ltd. in the U.S. has announced has been popularized. A picture image to be printed can be stored in a PDF file. When this PDF file is delivered to proofreaders, they can proceed with their correcting work on the display screen.
In the case where very complicated information such as information on a map or various correcting instructions in the DTP, etc. are presented onto a two-dimensional screen, information to be displayed is usually distributed and preserved into plural layers. For example, in the case of information of a map, when a layer including fundamental geographic data such as road or topography, etc. and a layer including particular location data such as particular places of restaurant or home, etc. are separately handled, it is possible to display only a necessary layer as occasion demands. Moreover, in the case of carrying out editing work such as changing the place of home, etc., only a layer to be edited can be selected. Accordingly, such an error that fundamental geographic data of the map is erroneously altered can be prevented. Multiple layers are also convenient in DTP work. When a layer indicating a picture to be printed and a layer indicating editorial instructions are separately managed, the editorial instructions can be clearly distinguished.
As described above, an approach to handle the information in the state delivered into plural layers has a great merit in improving display or editing efficiency in presenting a large number of information onto the two-dimensional screen. However, in the conventional typical presenting device for two-dimensional information, there is a problem that it is difficult to utilize the system with enough security. For example, let consider the case where editorial corrections with respect to the DTP work are carried out on the display screen. In typical commercial printed matters, not only an editor but also plural persons including a designer, a copy writer or a sponsor, etc. participate in the correcting work. Hitherto, such plural persons carry out work for respectively writing instructions for correction onto the picture to be printed. In this case, it is impossible to rigorously recognize the actual relationship between respective persons and respective instructions. For this reason, there was a problem that sufficient security relating to correcting responsibility could not be maintained. If the correction work is carried out on a paper, it is possible to clarify the correcting responsibility by signature of respective correctors. However, when the correction work is carried out on the screen, it is very hard to clarify the correcting responsibility, since signatures are not available on the screen. This was a big problem in business.
Another problem in the conventional device for presenting two-dimensional picture information is that layer information belonging to different files cannot be unified. In general, picture information produced by computer is handled as a file unit. Accordingly, in the case of DTP work on the display screen, if there is employed an approach to send a file in a sequential order to, for example, a designer, a copy writer and a sponsor and to make them write instructions for correction on the same file, such file can be dealt as an only file at all times. However, in many practical instances, another approach is usually employed to duplicate a file, to separately send the duplicated files to a designer, a copy writer and a sponsor and to make them write instructions for correction on the respective individual files by parallel processing. In this case, plural corrected files are finally returned to the editor. Thus, the editor owes the additional work for taking out and gathering necessary correcting information from the respective files.
This invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem that the conventional device for presenting two-dimensional picture information has. The object of the present invention is to provide a presentation apparatus for two-dimensional picture information which can maintain security for respective layers and handle layers between plural files in unified manner.